Trading Sweets
by SilverPedals1402
Summary: Candy can lead to many things, especially when the other wont give up their 'prized' candy bar when in the midst of trading sweets with one another at two in the morning. MADE FOR PercyJacksonLover14's CONTEST! -PEPPERONY INSIDE!


**Happy belated Halloween! :D I hope all you had fun and got some candy! Personally I don't care about age, as long as I'm still short! This story, is made for PercyJacksonLover14's Contest! I was NOT expecting to make it on time, or at least this close to on time. Hopefully it will still count. :D Especially since I worked so hard on it despite the hardships I faced while writing it.**

**Disclaimer: IMAA is NOT mine, whatsoever, so you can just move on.**

Halloween was a night for tricks and treats, terror and laughter, and the sweets and the salts. It was the night parents let loose any and all curfews, a night where teens tended to disappear to one place or the other, and the night parents got to appreciate their time collecting treats with their little ones or the quietness when their older ones leave.

Halloween was a night for anybody and everybody.

The best part was the costumes. You could match up, mix up, and give a little spark to your costume. It could be made explicitly to mirror your personality or hide who you truly are. It could be wild or calm, bright or dark, or even a mix of the two. Without the costumes, what good would the candy be?

Candy: The entire reason people head out of their houses so late in the night. It thrilled kids, riled up teens, contented adults, and gave a toothache to all.

At this particular night, a certain pair of teens still dressed in their costumes, sat as they compared candy. This was their favorite part. It was always the part where they got to truly see what sweets and what salts they got. In all, they got to see what goodies each of them got, or in other words, who got the better fill.

It was also the time where they were out of the cold and into the warmth of their homes, where they could settle down. Settle down, just to dump their candy bags and compare to the other. Compare, then trade.

Sitting on the floor of the blue-eyed, ebony haired teen's room, they carefully foraged through their piles of candy. Both teens were also grouping each piece of candy into their own categories.

The redheaded, brown-eyed girl, sat legs spread almost protectively, or even possessively, around her mound of candy. Her brown-eyes carefully picking through her carefully arranged candy, making sure not to leave out anything that might just be out-of-place. Not forgetting to validate that none were missing from her valuable mound of treats.

Peering through her eyelashes, she watched to ensure that the boy across from her didn't try anything. Even though she trusted the boy, that didn't say anything about trusting him with her candy so close to him. He'd promised her that he wouldn't touch her candy, but knowing from experience from the previous year with him, she knew he couldn't quite keep that promise.

When she saw that his attention was fully given to his own treasurable mound of candy, she returned to the last stages of sorting. She moved a sucker over to the section she marked off exclusively for suckers. Then she adjusted her pile of gums into a tidier mound, along with the mint candies.

Stretching out her back, she grinned, feeling content with her work. "Finally, I have finished!"

Her friend, the blue-eyed boy glanced up at her 'work'. "Okay, give me a minute, just a few more to sort out."

She nodded, still carefully watching him. She found herself sidetracked when she looked over at her friends face. She couldn't help but notice the way his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed, as he focused on what on what happened to look like a honey bar; not knowing where it belonged. She also couldn't help but notice how his mouth twitched as a question lingered on his lips, but refused to let it be known to her. His posture in general, told her that he was completely prepared to pass out if let be. Though, it was evident that he wouldn't allow himself to sleep until they finished what they started.

Tossing the candy to a pile of its own, he stretched out his own back. "Alright, Pep, I'm ready!"

The girl, Pepper, licked her lips in anticipation and eagerness for the upcoming 'event'. Candy has just got to top the list of her favorite sweets. As luck would have it, she could not care less about eating too much sugar.

"Where to start, where to start…" Pepper mumbled more to herself than to her friend.

Quick to the point, Pepper jabbed a finger towards a particularly large candy bar. "What do you want, Tony?"

He raised a curious eyebrow. "You want my most prized piece of candy? You must really want it then."

She glanced at her pile, looking for what would be considered equivalent to Tony's _prized_ piece of candy. His prized piece of candy just happened to steal the place as her favorite candy, which she happened to have only three small snack sized of.

"I'll give you two of these, three of these, and this." She offered hoping he'd take the offer.

This was how it was like since the first year they knew each other. After they trick or treated, they gathered together, sorted out their candy, then they traded out candy's they didn't like or didn't like enough to keep for something better from the other. They didn't care much that they might as well be too old to go out trick or treating, they just went for the fun of getting the candy.

On a normal occasion, their best friend Rhodey would be there with them, offering up his own goodies, but this particular Halloween he decided his bag was way too filled with too much of the more delicious treats to trade out. So, he ended up bailing on them.

"Nope," Tony shook his head. "Far too prized for those."

She pouted, jutting out her bottom lip. "Please? Not even for me?"

She inwardly smirked when she noticed his stubborn look falter a bit, but it instantly disappeared when it came back, only much stronger.

"Not a chance, Pep."

She let it go this once, but her goal was to get that candy bar, even if it was the last trade they'd make. She knew Tony could be really stubborn, and really hard to get the good candies from, but she also knew what would eventually make him give into her offers.

They traded and traded; candy was swapped, bets were made, some candies were even eaten, and time flew as it wanted nothing more than the morning to arrive. At some point, Pepper almost broke through Tony's persistence and stubbornness, and almost got him to give up his prized candy. At the last-minute, as he was just about to drop it into her hand for her presented trade, he snapped it back almost as if he'd broken away from an illusion.

"Please?"

Now she had resorted to begging and pleading. He declined every single offer she made. Even when she offered up half of her precious pile of sweets. It was unexpected that he wanted to keep that piece of candy so much, he denied almost doubling his amount of candy.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to say no." Tony teased, holding the very piece of candy that was the topic of the redhead's begging, almost in a taunting manner. "I haven't had this since last year's Halloween."

"Me neither!"

It was nearing the end to their little trading session, but Pepper wasn't ready to give up yet. Not even as she watched as he opened the candy's wrapper.

She reached out, attempting her best at giving him the puppy dog eyes, and pouting lips. She undeniably loved it when she got him to falter upon giving him, 'the face'. Though, on the negative side, it meant it bugged her all that much more when he refused her even when 'the face' was at play.

"Nuh-uh," Tony said once again, looking away. "Not going to work on me."

Pepper sighed, finally giving up. Well, only slightly. "Can I at least have a bite?"

There it was. She won. She saw it in those brilliantly bright blue eyes of his. He finally couldn't say no to her.

"Fine, but only a bite." He said holding out the candy bar to her.

Secretly, she smirked. _Just a bite, huh? _She opened her mouth and went to take a 'small' bite out of the candy bar, but at the last-minute, she grabbed hold of Tony's hand that was gripping the end of the candy bar, and bit off the biggest bite she could achieve.

Smiling in victory as she had just eaten just about half of his 'prized' piece of candy. Ignoring the flabbergasted, and slightly annoyed look Tony was giving her. Instead, she tossed a medium-sized candy bar of her own, at him. It hit him in the face, but he didn't as much as wink.

"In return for my small bite." Pepper said, fighting back the smirk that was tugging at her lips.

"Small?" Tony chuckled. "Someone _really _needs to refresh you on what 'small' means."

"That was small. Plus," she added. "It's not like you specifically said 'small'."

Tony sighed in defeat, still pouting. "I guess you're right."

She smiled smugly. She loved the feeling she received when she was right. It wasn't that she enjoyed being right all the time, because to be honest, being right sometimes isn't fun. Not every time. Though, when you manage to be right against a genius, it just made her feel so much smarter than she already felt.

Sighing heavily and tiredly, she stretched her arms out in a yawn. Returning to her original position, she found herself startled to find that her hand had come to lie against Tony's own. _When had they gotten so close?_

After a few moments, she was no doubt surprised to find that he hadn't moved to remove the touch between them. In fact, it almost seemed like he was enforcing the touch even more so. _Almost. _Or that _she_ wasn't even trying to remove the touch between them.

"Time sure does fly." Tony said, giving a yawn.

"Yep."

She noticed he was finishing up the 'prized' candy bar, all while he laid his head back against the wall they ended up sitting against. As they sat in silence, Pepper was truly starting to realize how uncomfortable her costume was getting. She tugged at the leggings of her costume that hugged her legs. They were starting to itch.

The two decided it'd be amusing to dress in 'couple' style. It was obvious that Rhodey teased them for it, mainly because the two weren't, in fact, dating at all. Yet, they were dressing as if they were. And of course, Rhodey has his own reasons, but the two had no idea.

Their costumes were: Salt and pepper. They thought it'd be more entertaining because Pepper's nickname was Pepper and she was the pepper, but they didn't have to explain it to anybody who knew them. They already knew.

Tony stood up, smoothening out the 'salt' part of his costume.

Pepper couldn't help but notice how cold her hand got once he removed his hand. She wondered if he felt it too. Probably not.

He offered her his hand. "Should I walk you home?"

It was as if a balloon deflated inside her. A balloon that was filled with hope and possibly something else. When she looked at the clock, she understood why he was offering to walk her home. It was almost two o'clock in the morning. Hopefully, her dad wouldn't be too angry with her. He never really did give her a time to be home at, though.

"Can I sleep over?"

That came out of nowhere. She hadn't planned at all to sleep over. Tony must have been just as surprised as she was, and she was the one that said it.

"Sure," Tony shrugged. "If that's what you want, but I should ask my dad first…"

Pepper bit her lip. "Oh, right."

Tony smiled at her. "Don't worry, he's probably still awake. He normally is."

Pepper sat down on his bed and curled her lips into a small smile. He disappeared into the halls of his house to get his dad.

xXx

Fingering the soft material of the new shirt she wore, she stretched out her back. Her costume laid in the corner of her room on top of her small bag she always carried around. Not to mention her large bag of sweets. She now wore a black t-shirt that was overly large on her, and some soft sweatpants that luckily had a tie in front so they fit. She felt oddly comfortable, when she normal felt out of place or weird in someone else's clothing.

Maybe it was because it was Tony's.

"I got blankets." Tony said, holding them up.

She looked up, her fingers straying away from the shirt she was fiddling with. "Thanks."

He didn't respond, but he did sit down next to her after he set the blankets down. It was strange. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was weird. Only because it was the middle off the night, she was half asleep, and the house was peculiarly quiet.

"Pepper…"

She glanced over, tired, but curious. "Hmm?"

"Do you like me?"

The question came out of nowhere. As if it was produced out of thin air. She wondered if it was just a slip of the tongue, or if maybe she heard him wrong. That or maybe she was taking it the wrong way. Hopefully, that wasn't the case.

"Of course I do." She said.

"I mean more for just my heritage; my money; my status." He sounded unsure, but somewhere deep in his tone, she could hear something she couldn't understand. Determination? Confidence?

"No doubt about it." She confirmed.

Where was this coming from?

It was probably from being so tired. She could see it in his eyes, that he was completely and utterly exhausted.

But a small and hardly acknowledged smirk spread across his lips. "Then, you don't mind if I say that I like you, too?"

She found herself shaking her head, despite herself and whatever feelings she must have had at the moment. Did Tony just say that he liked her? As in, _like_-like her? Or was he saying it in a friend way?

Her heard couldn't decide. It was frantic for him to do something; anything.

"No…" Her voice trailed, her eyes drifting across his face.

When had they gotten so close?

Her eyes focused on his lips, which were spreading into a defined smirk. It was tired and sloppy, but she could tell that he was smirking. Smirking in the special way he always does.

"What about if I said that I love you?"

Her heart definitely tried and failed, to jump of her chest. She couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face.

That was invitation enough for him apparently, as his lips matched up with hers in a hesitant manner. Slowly, inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, their lips pressed closer and closer together. It was by no means perfect, nor was it very graceful. In fact, it was quite the contrary; it was sloppy and messy, filled with their tiredness, but full of emotion.

Pepper never really imagined kissing Tony. Let alone him loving her, and actually feeling the same for him. She'd always had a crush on him, and she always felt like that was just what it was: A crush. She knew how crushes were. They never liked you back. It was like an unspoken rule with crushing on somebody.

Now, here she was, mouth mashing up against his. Doing exactly what she must have always wanted.

All they tasted was sugar and more sugar. They tasted, _each other. _Visual, sound, and sight was lost to everything but each other.

"That was for your _small_ bite." Tony whispered once they pulled apart.

Pepper shivered, suddenly feeling cold. Or was she warm?

She laughed lightly. "I though you got over it."

"No way, that was my favorite one!"

She paused. "So…about what you said."

"Too much?"

She smiled. "Not enough."

In his tiredness, he must have not understood what she meant. That or he was trying to figure out what he was going to say next. There is the possibility that he could have fallen asleep with his eyes open. She couldn't tell.

"Then" She felt his fingers pinch the sleeve of her borrowed shirt. "Pepper Potts, I love you more than you could imagine." He paused to bite his lip. "That enough?"

She nodded. "I love you too, Tony Stark."

Tony closed his eyes, relief flooding through him. "Happy Halloween, Pep."

Halloween soon ended up being her favorite holiday, by far.

**That was too much work for one story. Oh well, it was worth it, because it was fun! :) I hope the others who are participating had fun as well, and I wish you all luck! :)**

**Keep in mind, they are 17/18 years old, but I don't care if that's too old to trick or treat! Just use your wonderful imagination! **

**Fun Fact: _I have issues spelling the word "beautiful". I can't spell it at all, unless in my head I go "B-e-a-U-tiful!" you know from Bruce Almighty or whatever one it was with Jim Carey. And I don't even remember that movie EXCEPT that part and I watched it a LONG time ago._**

**I'm going to go hopefully write some more. So...**

**Hugs and Love, SilverPedals!**


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